This is one of the funniest things I've seen in years: MSNBC's Keith Olbermann, the man who on a nightly basis drags journalism deeper and deeper into the abyss, is actually worried about integrity in his industry.
"From a professional standpoint, how do you determine whether these guys or just [James] O`Keefe by himself, whether they qualify as journalists, rather than political provocateur?" the "Countdown" host ironically asked guest Greg Mitchell of the Huffington Post Thursday.
It got better: "[E]ven as a journalist, you can espouse views and maintain sufficient journalistic integrity."
I'm serious. He really said that. With a straight face no less (video embedded below the fold with transcript):
With the demise of the Editor and Publisher this week, many media commentators are nostalgic for the hard-nosed trade journalism the newspaper industry publication often engaged in. E&P's strength was always in its core mission of reporting news industry trends. In its latter years, like a number of other outlets, it began to stray off-course into garden-variety, hypocritical leftist media criticism.
Reporting that “ABC News is getting hammered by the mainstream and liberal media,” as if they aren't the same, FNC's Brit Hume led his Thursday “Grapevine” segment with examples of the left-wing outrage over Barack Obama being pressed at Wednesday's debate on subjects the media consider off limits. Hume highlighted how “the left-leaning Washington Post TV writer Tom Shales said anchors, quote 'Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos turned in shoddy, despicable performances,'” (![http://media.eyeblast.org/newsbusters/static/2009/11/2009-11-13-GregMitc...](http://media.eyeblast.org/newsbusters/static/2009/11/2009-11-13-GregMitchTweet.jpg"){kind=link}
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